Almost, Maine
Almost, Maine
By John Cariani
A Staged Reading by Orlando Theatre Project
Presented at Mad Cow Theatre, Orlando, FL
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p class=”MsoNormal”>If there was a perfect 10 minute play festival, this might be it. Author Cariani present eight shorts, each a bittersweet tale of love punctuated by a brilliant moment of theatricality. The shows flow from a noteworthy ensemble cast – rubbery Eric Pinder, plaintive Darby Ballard, suave Ryan Gigliotti, and sexy Ame Livingston all mix and match to point out the absurd and unobserved facets of romance gone good and romance gone bad. Conveniently, the town of Almost is that one odd corner of Aroostook County that lacks any sort of Down East accent, making it portable and comprehensible to the even the most suthentic southerner.
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p class=”MsoNormal”>In “Her Heart” Ballard is a hiker camping on Pindar’s front yard. She needs to see the Northern Lights to get some closure on her ex, and fortunately for her Pindar is the sort of repairman that can tackle broken hearts. Later Pinder couples with Livingston in “Seeing The Thing”. They’ve been snowmobiling together for more than a few months, and he’s painted a picture for her. She’s can’t identify the pointillist subject, her years of working in the plywood mill have blunted her feelings gland. The stage direction was hilarious, although the layers and layers of snowmobiling gear called for make this an unlikely production this far south. Another fun segment is “Where it Went.” Pinder and Livingston are out ice-skating and pretending to enjoy the activity, even though there’s a Vesuvius of bad relations under their skating gear. Things go from scrabbling to stabbing when her missing shoe reappears, dropping out of the sky like her realization things are probably over. There are some subtle link in these vignettes, ones you might not even notice until the day after.
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p class=”MsoNormal”>”Almost, Maine” never makes fun of the rurals who live in a place where “Range 17, Township 4” is a valid street address. By avoiding the trap of attempting authentic accents that shift every few miles, we see these as stories that really are out of time and place. The occasional “wicked” (translation – very, extreme, superlative) and a smattering of “Jeez’m Crow” (translation – I find that hard to believe, Oy Vey, WTF over?) keeps one foot in the country without stepping in anything, and the jobs and the bar they inhabit keep expectations low. This is a wonderful piece of writing, and a cleverly stage read. It’s better than a blueberry lobster roll covered in maple syrup.
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p class=”MsoNormal”>For more information on Orlando Theater Project, please visit http://www.otp.cc
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p class=”MsoNormal”>For more information on Mad Cow, please visit http://www.madcowtheatre.com
